Ulster Bank has secured permission by the High Court to serve bankruptcy proceedings on developer Seán Dunne in the US over a €164 million debt.

The move comes as the Superior Court of Connecticut is being asked to throw out a claim by Nama that the transfer of a half-share in a Geneva apartment from Mr Dunne to his wife Gayle Killilea was “fraudulent” at a time when Dunne owed significant debts to the agency and to banks in Ireland.

Yesterday, Bernard Dunleavy BL, for Ulster Bank, was given leave by Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne to serve bankruptcy proceedings on Mr Dunne outside the jurisdiction in relation to a €164 million debt owed by Mr Dunne allegedly arising out of guarantees he executed over loans for the redevelopment of the Jurys Hotel site in Dublin.

Mr Dunleavy said judgment had been obtained against him in May last year for €164 million.

While he is living in at an address at Indian Field Road, Greenwich, Connecticut, he is a citizen of this State, carries on business here, acts as a landlord here and his family continue to reside here, counsel said.

Insofar as he is resident in the US, he is there on a temporary business visa, he added.

While such applications were normally made in the bankruptcy court in Dublin on Mondays, the bank had sought to make it now as Mr Dunne is due in court in relation to other proceedings in Stamford, Connecticut, this Friday and he could be served then, counsel said.